“Why do I need to pay for SEO?” Do you want potential clients to find your website? If you said, “yes” you might need to pay for someone to do SEO (aka Search Engine Optimization or how to get your website found by the search engines so they can show it to potential clients). I say “might” because there are some cases where you are either in a very niche industry or a smaller community and you don’t have more than 9 competitors for what you do. Businesses like trash companies and harp instructors can fit this category. If that’s the case, then stop reading this article and pass it on to a friend who is in a more...

“Why can’t I build my website myself?” is a question I sometimes hear from a prospective client. My typical response is “You can.” It’s true, there are a lot of website building options out there today from the drag and drop platforms like Squarespace, Wix, Duda, GoDaddy, and Weebly, to WordPress, Joomla, Magento, and Drupal. So, is there really a need to work with a marketing agency or web development company anymore? Is it even worth it to contract your friends’ son who is living in their basement? It depends on what you need for your business and what your skills are. From a business perspective, can you afford to take time away from doing what you do best,...

How is your Digital Marketing strategy looking for 2017? You may or may not realize this, but digital marketing and hot rods have a lot in common. You may be asking, “What is digital marketing? What is a hot rod?” Ok, if you don’t know what a hot rod is you should probably stop reading this blog and go back to whatever you were doing. Digital Marketing is marketing using the internet. Digital marketing leverages the power of the internet to connect businesses with current and future customers. Many hot rods end up as rusty, broken down versions of their former selves. Many websites can end up the same way. If a website is not updated, upgraded, and cared...

How much should I spend on marketing? During the last couple of months, I have heard variations of this question. First, marketing shouldn’t be a spend or expense item. It is supposed to be an investment. Sometimes we get a great return and sometimes we don’t get any return, but it is an investment nonetheless. But, how much should a business invest in their marketing budget and how much of that should be invested in digital? Generally speaking, 5-15% of your gross revenue should be invested in marketing and 25-30% of that should be digital. But, there are a lot of variables. How established is your business? Where can you connect with your target market? What are your competitors...

3 Quick Social Media Tips The upcoming holiday season brings lots of events. Here are a few quick social media tips to try this season and into the next year. These tips can be tweaked for your faith community, school, non-profit or for-profit business. Invite people to your events – set up event pages on Facebook and start inviting your followers to your events. You can even encourage them to invite friends. You could reward people for the number of people invited or the number of invites that convert to people at the event. Event pages are an easy way to get the word out about your congregation, school, organization or business and connect you with the community you are...

Every once in awhile I get asked something like, “Why are you a digital marketing consultant?” My gut answer, which sometimes catches people off guard so I don’t use it as often, is “to fix the economy.” I know, it seems like a tall order but I like being able to make a difference – especially one that is measurable. One of my “hobbies” over the years has been home improvement projects, something very measurable. I enjoy fantasy football where success is measured by points, wins, and losses. I also used to be a musician, and playing an instrument with anyone within earshot is a very measurable experience. So, back to why I am a digital marketing consultant. When...

What is marketing automation? I’m glad you asked. It is marketing that is automated. I know, that’s not much of an answer. But, see if the rest of this article opens your eyes. Have you ever visited a website, looked around and left? Then, on Facebook and Google you see ads from that company that appear to be aimed at you? That’s marketing automation. If one of the ads offers you a free download and you click on it, next you find yourself on a landing page which offers you this interesting download in exchange for some brief information about you (including your email address). That’s marketing automation. Let’s say you work in marketing or sales at a manufacturing...

Presidential candidates have been leveraging the power of the internet and social media to get their message out. Yes, our TV’s, radios, telephones, and mailboxes still see a fair amount of election chatter but nothing compared to the digital sphere. If you Google, “social media and the election 2016” you end up with 25.9 million results – a lot of us are looking at how the candidates are using social media and how that is shaping the election. One of the things I like best about the digital world is that everything is quantifiable. Every click of the mouse gets tracked. Every word or phrase that is searched gets dutifully logged. I am interested in seeing how well the...

Far and away, the best thing about landing pages – whether you already have them or are just getting started – is their ability to help you convert more leads without increasing traffic by a single website visitor. Consider that in most cases, increasing your website’s conversion rate by a measly 1% will improve your bottom line more than doubling your website’s traffic numbers. That’s right, since website conversion is focused on improving what you currently have rather than chasing something you don’t have, we believe it’s a great place to start improving any digital marketing strategy. The cost is minimal and the potential gains are huge – it’s the definition of a win-win. A couple other glaring stats...

I recently read an article that stated 65% of people search for local businesses online. When you search Google, you typically see paid ads at the top of the page followed by Google’s local search box with the map and three listings, then everyone else for many pages. Do you want to be listed in Google’s local search box? You need to invest in Local SEO or Local Search Engine Optimization. What is Local SEO? I’m glad you asked. Local SEO uses geographic labels (county, city, neighborhood, etc.) to point Google to your business. The heavy lifting of Local SEO comes with citations, or getting listed in a minimum of 150 online directories. Yelp, Foursquare, HotFrog, Superpages, etc. are directories where your...